Earring with pivoted retainer and means for stopping same

ABSTRACT

An earring for use with pierced ears and having a pivoted resilient retainer with an associated latching recess and means to guide the free end of the retainer thereinto, so as to insure the positive securement of the earring with respect to the ear. An abutment wall is provided to stop pivotal movement of the retainer as it moves to latched position.

United States Patent l1113,57s,o13

Michael Chernow New York;

Joseph Chernow, New Rochelle, N.Y. 481,377

Aug. 20, 1965 Apr. 13, 1971 said Michael Chernow assignor to Monocraft, Inc.

Minneapolis, Minn.

lnventors Appl. NoA Filed Patented Assignee EARRING WITH PIVOTED RETAINER AND MEANS FOR STOPPING SAME l Claim, 4 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 63/12 lnt. Cl A44c 7/00 Field of Search 63/12, 13,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS lO/1881 6/1884 5/1905 12/1918 1/1923 5/1941 4/1960 l12/1919 Washburn Lehmann Lieberfreund King Smith Schupbach LaFlamme et al. Gibbs et a1 Primary Examiner-F. Barry Shay Attorney-Anthony A. Juettner ABSTRACT: An earring for use with pierced ears and having a pivoted resilient retainer with an associated latching recess and means to guide the free end of the retainer thereinto, so as to insure the positive securement of the earring with respect to the ear. An abutment wall is provided to stop pivotal movement ofthe retainer as it moves to latched position.

Patented April 13, 1971 3,575,013

INVENTORS JOSEPH C HEPA/0W M/ cnf/1FL CHER/VON EARRING WHTH PIVOTED RETAINER AND MEANS FR STOPPING SAME As conducive to an understanding of the invention, it is noted that although earrings have been used on pierced cars for many years, due to the many problems that have arisen in the use of such earrings, many girls and women have been hesitant to wear the same. Thus, in the use of such earrings, the retainer portion of the earring that extends through the pierced earlobe, must be locked in operative position with respect to the earring structure so as to prevent accidental loss of the earring. A variety of structures have been evolved to insure locking of the retainer member with respect to the earring. However, due to the relatively small size of the earring and the fact that it must be locked and unlocked after it is mounted on the earlobe of the wearer, as the locking mechanism is relatively inaccessible, where any complex manipulation is required, it is extremely difficult and time consuming to perform.

Furthermore, where the retainer portion of the earring does not dependably move to locked position and it must be positively gripped by the user for manipulation, to lock and unlock the same, the retainer portion must necessarily be relatively large. As a result, the earring will be suspended considerably from the earlobe, thereby exposing the relatively unattractive retainer and detracting from the decorative efi'ect of the earring.

It is accordingly among the objects of the invention to provide an earring for use on pierced ears which utilizes a locking mechanism which uses relatively few simple components, that may readily be fabricated at relatively low cost, which mechanism may readily and rapidly be operated by the wearer with minimum manipulation and without the use of a mirror, dependably to lock the earring in position and as readily to unlock the earring for removal thereof and which locking mechanism will support the earring in close proximity to the earlobe so that the locking mechanism is substantially concealed.

According to the invention, the earring has a retainer fabricated of a resilient spring material and formed with an arcuate configuration between its ends. One end of the retainer is pivotally secured to a part of 'the earring member, preferably a normal front part of the earring member in manner such that the retainer may pivot between fixed limits. A recess is provided in another part of the earring member spaced from the part to which the retainer has been pivoted, and designed to accommodate the free end of the retainer to retain the latter in locked position. A camming guide notch is formed adjacent said recess to receive the free end of the retainer when it is moved toward locked position and to guide such free end into the recess to effect the locking action when the side of the arcuate configuration remote from the pivot is pressed toward the latter to bend the arcuate configuration out of its normally distended position so that the free end will be snapped into said recess. The arcuate configuration provides two spaced surfaces so that upon applying pressure thereto the retainer will be bent to release the free end thereof from the latching recess.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention:

FIG. i is an enlarged cross-sectional elevational view of an earring according to the invention showing the retainer in solid line in locked operative position, and in dot-dash line in its open position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional detail view of the earring of FIG. il, showing the camming action of the guide notch on the free end ofthe retainer;

FIG. 3 is an exploded detail perspective view of the retainer and the portions of the earring member with which it is associated; and

FiG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the end of the earring to which the retainer is pivoted.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, like numerals in the various FIGS. will be employed to designate like parts.

As shown in the drawings, the earring l0, as illustratively shown in FIG. ll, comprises an earring member 10' of a hollow toroidal configuration with a normal front portion l1 and a normal rear portion i2.

The free end of front portion 1l which illustratively is rectangular in cross section, is bifurcated to define parallel bearing arms l5, i6 as shown in FIGS. 3 and d, the bifurcation does not extend vertically through the bottom wall l but only through the front portion 18' thereof to define an abutment surface 20' formed by the end of the bottom wall located between the bearing arms f5, 16, said abutment surface 20' extending forwardly of the abutment 19 defined by the edge of the top wall i7 aligned with the bifurcation. The function of such abutments i9', 20' will be hereinafter described. The top and bottom walls extend in parallel planes at right angles to the plane of the bifurcation.

The opening 22 at the free end of the rear portion i12, defines a latching recess, and the top wall 17 of rear portion 12 has a camming guide notch 25 formed therein which, as illustrated, tapers from a point adjacent the free end of rear portion l2 of the earring member 10 to the top wall 17 thereof.

A retainer 30 is provided having a flattened pivot end 311 with pivot hole 32 therein, and a free end 35 which has a smooth tapered tip 35'. Retainer 30 is formed of a spring material and is arcuately contoured between its ends to provide a springing portion 3o and two spaced manually grippable areas 37 and 38 on opposite sides of the springing portion 36.

The retainer is dimensioned so that when the fiattened pivot end 311 is positioned between arms 15 and I6 with pivot pin t0 inserted through pivot hole 32 and through bearing openings 4l in arms l5, i6, the free end 35 of retainer 30 will normally extend to lie within guide notch 25 as best shown in FIG. 2.

The pivot end 3i, as shown in FIG. il, has a substantially semicircular portion 38' at its extremity and is flattened at its bottom surface as at 39. Thus, the engagement of the portion 3l' of the retainer 30 against abutment 19', as shown in broken lines in FIG. il, will limit counterclockwise rotation of the retainer, and the engagement of the fiattened undersurface 39 with the abutment 20 defined by the bottom wall il@ will limit clockwise rotation of the retainer 30.

In use, the free end 35 of the retainer 3f) is inserted through the pierced earlobe from the front to the rear thereof. By reason of the smooth tapered tip 35', the retainer will readily pass through the pierced earlobe with no discomfort which is especially important when used by individuals whose ears have recently been pierced and the flesh is sensitive. The retainer is then pivoted in a clockwise direction until the end 35 rests in notch 25.

Due to the fact that the pivot end 3l of the retainer is flattened and positionedbetween the fiat surfaces of bearing arms l5, i6, there is assurance that such end 35 will be guided into notch 25.

Thereupon, the user need merely exert pressure against the surface 33 of the retainer 30 to force the free end 35 downwardly along the surface of the notch 25. As a result, the arcuate portion 36 of the retainer will be stressed and when the end 35 moves below the upper edge of top wall 17 of rear portion l2 of the earring into alignment with latching recess 22, the end 35 will snap into said recess dependably locking the retainer in position.

As the clockwise movement of the retainer 30 is limited by the abutment of fiattened surface 39 against wall portion 20', there is assurance that the end 35 of the retainer cannot be moved below the recess 22 to prevent dependable locking action.

To release the retainer, it is merely necessary for the wearer to compress the portions 37, 35 of the retainer against the resiliency of the intervening spring portion 36 t0 move the end 35 out of recess 22 to unlock the retainer. Thereupon, the earring may readily be pivoted in a clockwise direction with respect to the unlocked retainer, which still extends through the earlobe and the retainer withdrawn from the opening in such earlobe.

With the construction above described, since the retainer is dependably guided to position for locking and readily moved to locked and unlocked position with a minimum of manipulation, it is apparent that the earring may be attached and removed from the earlobe rapidly and without the use of a mirror.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

l. An earring for use with pierced ears comprising an earring member having two spaced opposed ends and a retainer fonned of spring material pivotally secured to one of the ends of said earring member, said retainer having a free end dimensioned to pass through a pierced earlobe, a latching recess on the other end of said earring member within which the free end of said retainer may be engaged, said other end having a top wall having one end adjacent said recess, and a guide notch formed in said top wall of said earring member adjacent said latching recess to receive the free end of said retainer to guide the same into said latching recess, said notch being tapered and inclined downwardly toward the latching recess, said retainer having a curved springing portion providing two spaced manually grippable surfaces whereby upon application of pressure to said manually grippable surfaces, they will be moved together permitting guiding of the free end of said retainer into or out of said latching recess, said first end of said earring member being bifurcated to define bearing arms, said retainer being flattened at the end thereof remote from its free end, said flattened end of the retainer being positioned between said bearing arms, a pivot pin extending through said flattened end and being joumaled at its ends in said arms, said bifurcated end having a top and bottom wall extending in parallel planes at right angles to the plane of the bifurcation, the end of the top wall aligned with the bifurcation being positioned inwardly of the end of the bottom wall aligned with said bifurcation and defining an abutment to limit pivotal movement of the retainer in one direction and the surface of the bottom wall defining an abutment to limit pivotal movement of the retainer in the other direction. 

1. An earring for use with pierced ears comprising an earring member having two spaced opposed ends and a retainer formed of spring material pivotally secured to one of the ends of said earring member, said retainer having a free end dimensioned to pass through a pierced earlobe, a latching recess on the other end of said earring member within which the free end of said retainer may be engaged, said other end having a top wall having one end adjacent said recess, and a guide notch formed in said top wall of said earring member adjacent said latching recess to receive the free end of said retainer to guide the same into said latching recess, said notch being tapered and inclined downwardly toward the latching recess, said retainer having a curved springing portion providing two spaced manually grippable surfaces whereby upon application of pressure to said manually grippable surfaces, they will be moved together permitting guiding of the free end of said retainer into or out of said latching recess, said first end of said earring member being bifurcated to define bearing arms, said retainer being flattened at the end thereof remote from its free end, said flattened end of the retainer being positioned between said bearing arms, a pivot pin extending through said flattened end and being journaled at its ends in said arms, said bifurcated end having a top and bottom wall extending in parallel planes at right angles to the plane of the bifurcation, the end of the top wall aligned with the bifurcation being positioned inwardly of the end of the bottom wall aligned with said bifurcation and defining an abutment to limit pivotal movement of the retainer in one direction and the surface of the bottom wall defining an abutment to limit pivotal movement of the retainer in the other direction. 